Monday, February 14, 2011

SuperPhillip's Favorite VGMs - Valentine's Day 2011 Edition

Love is in the air, but furthermore than that are my VGMs! Can you smell their golden goodness? Perhaps you'd rather listen to them instead! That's what this week is dedicated to-- well, just like every week on the VGMs. This go around we have remixes from Final Fantasy XI and Mega Man ZX, tracks from Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!, Jet Force Gemini, and we cap things off with Sonic Adventure 2. Are you ready to rumble?

TBM stands for The Black Mages, a band founded by veteran Final Fantasy series composer, Nobuo Uematsu. This theme, Distant Worlds from Final Fantasy XI, comes from their third album, Darkness and Starlight. I particularly love near the end when the rock guitar pops in with its own take on the main melody. It's awesome, to be frank. Amano-san drew the wallpaper you see before you. He's the long-time veteran artist of the Final Fantasy series before that hack fetishist Nomura took over for the art. I'm still bitter if you can't tell. I'll be fine though. Just enjoy the song for me.

Bomberman 64: The Second Story was my favorite of the three Bomberman games for the Nintendo 64. There were no dreaded bomb-jumping puzzles, and the game's unlockables were fun to acquire unlike other games. Score Attack is one of the many multiplayer modes in The Second Attack. The song is very tense, gets faster and faster, and ends with a satisfying conclusion-- just like Bomberman 64: The Second Attack!

Cerulean is a cold desert planet in Jet Force Gemini. This is Vela's second planet that she embarks on. The Jet Force Gemini soundtrack is one of the most impressive technical feats on the Nintendo 64. The sound quality just sounds superb. Are you with me on this? Of course, you're with me! We're all friends here! I remember the final boss being one of the toughest I ever defeated. His attacks were so hard to avoid! Enough whining from me. Enjoy this wonderful track from Jet Force Gemini!

Mega Man ZX was a Metroid-styled game. The map system, however, was super-confusing, so it was difficult to find your way around the many areas the game had to offer. In some regards, the original Mega Man ZX was a forgettable game. The sequel, though, was quite good, and I very much enjoyed it. Misty Rain is a haunting tune thanks to the female vocals. It's also got a great beat to it, and it's one of my favorite tracks from the game. This is the remixed version of Misty Rain, for those of you at home keeping score.

Green Forest was Sonic's third level in Sonic Adventure 2. I never owned a Dreamcast, so I played the superior (how would I know) Gamecube version. Sonic Adventure 2 is infamous for introducing the Shadow character that split the fanbase. I even liked Shadow's own video game, though the gun part was just hilarious to me. Green Forest is a rockin' drum and guitar theme composed none other than by Jun Senoue. I really like his rock interpretations of Sonic music. Though his Sonic 4 music sucked hedgehog balls in my humble opinion!

A kiss to all my fans on this wonderful Valentine's Day. Well, at least a platonic kiss, that is. You know what I mean, right? Creepy. Anyway, hope you liked what you heard today as next week we're blowing the roof off this joint. Stay tuned!